A Black mother of 4 was shot and killed

by a neighbor. Her family wants the

woman who shot her arrested
By Mitchell McCluskey and Christina Maxouris, CNN
Updated 10:17 AM EDT, Tue June 6, 2023
A mother of four was shot and killed in Florida following a longtime feud with a neighbor
who had complained about the victim’s children playing outside, authorities and a family
attorney said.
Deputies responded to a trespassing call Friday night and found one woman suffering from a
gunshot wound, Marion County, Florida, Sheriff Billy Woods said in a Monday news
conference.
The victim was identified by authorities as Ajike “AJ” Owens. She was 35.
The shooter, also a woman, “engaged” with Owens’ children and threw a pair of skates,
hitting the children, the sheriff said. A witness told police there had been a dispute over a
child’s electronic tablet device prior to the shooter throwing the skates at the children,
according to an incident report from the sheriff’s office.
Following that interaction, one of the children went back inside their home and told their
mother, who went to the neighbor’s home “to confront the lady,” the sheriff said.
According to the shooter, there was “a lot of aggressiveness” from both sides, as well as
threats being made, and Owens was ultimately shot through the door, Woods said.
Witnesses told authorities Owens went to the shooter’s home and knocked on the door
before she was shot, according to the incident report.
Owens was later pronounced dead at a hospital, authorities said.
The woman who fired at Owens has been cooperating with law enforcement, the sheriff
added. No arrest has been made in the case.
Authorities have not named the shooter or shared any identifying information. But civil
rights attorney Ben Crump, one of the attorneys representing the family, identified her as a
White woman, according to a news release from his office Monday. The incident report also
described the shooter as a 58-year-old White woman.
In a separate news conference held by Owens’ family attorneys, the victim’s mother said the
neighbor who shot her daughter had called the family, including the children, racial slurs.
The neighbor’s door “never opened,” when Owens, who was Black, tried to confront her,
and she was shot through the door, Pamela Dias, the victim’s mother said.
“My daughter, my grandchildren’s mother, was shot and killed with her 9-year-old son
standing next to her. She had no weapon, she posed no imminent threat to anyone,” Dias
said.
“What I’m asking is for justice,” she added. “Justice for my daughter.”
Speaking to MSNBC Monday night, Crump said the fact that there has not been an arrest in
the case is “appalling.”
“It is asinine when they try to justify this unjustifiable killing of this mother of four who was
killed in front of her children,” Crump said. “It is heartbreaking on every level.”
A verified GoFundMe page to support Owens’ family had raised more than $30,000 by
Monday night.

Sheriff references ‘stand your ground’ law

In Monday’s news conference, authorities pleaded for calm and patience as they
investigated the shooting, worked to recover possible video footage and interview the
children who witnessed the incident. The sheriff also asked for anyone with information to
come forward.
While responding to criticism about how long the investigation and a possible arrest is
taking, the sheriff referenced the state’s “stand your ground” law. The law allows people to
meet “force with force” if they believe they or someone else is in danger of being seriously
harmed by an assailant.
“What a lot of people don’t understand is that law has specific instructions for us in law
enforcement,” he said. “Any time that we think, or perceive or believe that that might come
into play, we cannot make an arrest, the law specifically says that.”
“What we have to rule out is whether the deadly force was justified or not before we can
even make the arrest,” he said.
Authorities had received reports from the two neighbors dating back to at least January
2021, the sheriff said. Those reports included calls from the shooter complaining about
Owens’ children, the sheriff said, adding that it was “children being children,” either being
on someone’s property or playing in front of the multiplex.
“Here’s what I wish: I wish our shooter would have called us instead of taking actions into
her own hands. I wish Ms. Owens would have called us, in hopes we could have never got to
the point in which we are here today,” he said.
“Pray for those children. Pray for each and every one of them,” Woods added. “Their life has
changed.”
The sheriff vowed to Owens’ family and friends that his office “is going to do everything to
bring justice.”
Lionel Messi’s preferred move would
be back to Barcelona, father and agent
says
By Matias Grez, CNN
Published 7:43 AM EDT, Tue June 6, 2023
 
Lionel Messi’s father and agent, Jorge Messi, says his son’s preferred move would be a return
to Barcelona during the summer transfer window.
Messi played his last match for Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday, ending a two-year stay in the
French capital which had become tumultuous of late.
The World Cup winner was booed on more than one occasion by PSG fans this season,
including when he walked onto the pitch at the Parc des Princes stadium to celebrate the
team’s Ligue 1 title on Sunday.
Among the clubs vying for his contract is Al-Hilal, with Reuters reporting last month that
Messi had received a formal offer to join the Saudi club.
However, when asked by journalists if returning to Barcelona, where Messi spent 17 trophy-
laden years, would be his son’s preferred move, Jorge answered: “Yes.”
Jorge was then asked if the Messi family was confident of a return to the Catalan club, to
which he responded: “I would love it.”
Messi left Barcelona in tears in 2021 after financial mismanagement at the club, which was
exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, meant it was unable to offer its talisman a new
contract.
The Argentine won two Ligue 1 titles in his two seasons at PSG, but was unable to help the
club win the Champions League for the first time in its history.
Messi’s time at the club ended acrimoniously after PSG suspended him for taking an
unauthorized trip abroad, with the Argentine later apologizing.
Barça legend
Now a move back to the club where Messi turned from schoolboy to sporting legend is on
the cards.
At 17 years old, he made his first of 778 appearances for the Blaugrana, becoming the
youngest player to represent the club in an official game at the time.
He went on to break the club’s goalscoring record and won 35 trophies during his time at the
Camp Nou – including 10 La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues.
Under new coach and club legend Xavi, Barcelona this year won its first La Liga title in four
years.
“For me, there’s no doubt that if Messi comes back, he will help us on a football level,” Xavi
told Barcelona-based newspaper SPORT in a recent interview.
“I let the president [Joan Laporta] know this. I have no doubts, no doubt at all that he will
help because he is still a decisive footballer, because he still has hunger, because he’s a
winner, because he’s a leader and because, also, he’s a different, different player,” added
Xavi, who told SPORT that he still talks to Messi.
“We don’t have a Barça on a talent level like 2010, for example. And what would Messi
bring? He’d bring talent. Final pass, set pieces, goals … in the final third, he’s a player on a
different level.
“As such, and because of the way I want to play, the way the staff wants to play too, for me
there’s no doubt that he would help us a lot, but it all depends on him. In the end, the one
who calls the shots at this time is Leo. There’s no doubt.”